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Around here where I work, the support staff I am lucky to have (they save my ass just about every day) bristle to say the least at the term “secretary.” I agree with them; that term has too much baggage in terms of hierarchal, gender-based connotations.

the secretary to whom i was referring is male… i mean, i see your point, but it’s not like it’s an essentialist term. it’s a job title. like we say “poet” and rarely use “poetess” although “poet” entails class/gender problems. but anyway, i think i need a personal assistant, because i need someone who can pick out my clothes and makeup and accessories as well as schedule my events and make sure i have everything done on time.

i remember during my master’s program how the running joke with my then-girlfriend was “bring us monkeys!” that is, we figured that we were doing the real grunt work, but grad students being lowest on the food chai,n who could we get to do *our* grunt work? monkeys, naturally. surely they were qualified enough.